The Rebirth of Vulpen
by vulpen5301
Summary: A young fox falls in love with an employee at Freddy Fazbear's pizza. He soon discovers that the world isnt as simple as he thought. Rewrite of The Story of Vulpen and Mangle
1. The Beginning

The feeling of wind blowing through my russet fur was always one I enjoyed more than almost any other, outshined only by the feeling I got in my chest when I first stared into the eyes of her; the girl that proved to me that love at first sight was real. I suppose I should back up a bit and introduce myself. My name, is Vulpen Vulpes, and I am a fox. I live in a small town on the southern coast of Long Island, New York with my twin sister, Vixen, but I just call her Vix or Vixey. This is the story of how one day changed my life forever.

It all began 3 years ago, when I decided to go to my favorite restaurant from when I was a child, although having only been 17 then, I suppose I still was. This restaurant was one of the most important restaurants in recent history, despite it seeming to just be a small pizzeria and arcade for little kids. Since it was only about four miles from my house, and since I could use the exercise so I decided to ride my bicycle. As I pedaled down the sidewalks on that warm June morning, I could feel that that day was going to be different. The air was warm and soothing, and I could swear that I was gliding through the air if I took my hands off the handlebars. I knew the place would be packed since school had been let out a few days ago, Vixen and I had actually graduated the day before, but I didn't care.

I pulled up and leaned my bike on the outside of the building; I knew it wouldn't get stolen since this was a good neighborhood, and that the owner wouldn't care since she had known me for years. As I walked inside and payed for entry (it was an arcade after all) I spotted the manager and decided to say hello. He wore grey pants and a blue dress shirt with "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza embroidered over his heart, and underneath, a name tag that sported his name, job, and favorite animatronic, that being Bonnie the bunny.

I ran up to the manager, an old friend of mine named Jack, he was a senior and I was a freshman so he always had my back when I needed it. "Hey Jack," I yelled as I walked up to him, when he saw me, he offered me out old _friend handshake_ and I happily obliged. "How ya been?"

"Eh I've been the same as always," Being a wolf, he always had this demanding look to him. when he got this job, I told him he was better suited to be a security guard than a manager at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, but he always insisted that the guards never lasted long in that place. "Aren't you a little old to be hanging at Freddy's?" He prodded jokingly.

"Oh, shut it you!" I punched him in the arm lightly, "I'm here for lunch, and I wanted to talk to Millie, is she in today?" I asked him.

Millie was the owner and a family friend; we could always count on her if we needed something done, she never told us who, but whenever we had a problem, she would tell us, "I've got some contacts I can reach out to for that." Even if it was some kind of home repair, we'd go to sleep that night and the repair would be done before the next morning. When I was real young, I had a dream that Foxy, the animatronic, pirate fox, came into my room to fix a broken electrical socket; my parents found it cute, but I swore to them it wasn't a dream. However, at this point I had accepted how crazy that would've been. The best part was that Millie would never charge up a dime, here only request was that we keep coming back, but I hadn't been back in almost two years, not since the car accident that took my left hand, and left me and Vixey as orphans.

"You've been away too long man, you know she never misses a day, she'll be so happy to see you," He surprised me by pulling me into a hug. "You should've come back sooner; we were all so shocked to hear what happened. You know you guys were like family to us."

"Yeah, I know," I broke away from the hug and walked across the building to the offices, and found Millie's door.

When I knocked on the door I heard coughing and a soft voice yell out "Come in," as I open the door she continues, "Fang, we made your payments for this-" she stopped when she saw me.

"Hey Millie," She was a forty something year old tabby cat with black spots over her eyes like a racoon, because of this, my father gave her the nickname "Coonie" even though it annoyed her. Despite there being a uniform that she should be wearing, being the owner she allowed herself to wear blue jeans and a Metallica t-shirt; the only thing showing that she worked here was a name tag that was nearly identical to Jack's, but with a few minor changes.

After a moment of shock and recognition, a soft smile spread across her face, "Vulpen, it's been so long." She said in a motherly, comforting tone that immediately made me feel bad for the 2 years I spent ignoring her. "It's so good to see-" her words cut short and I could see where her eyes were trailing to.

I lifted my left arm to reveal my prosthetic hand, it was black and leathery with grey, metallic joints showing where my knuckles would've been. It was attached to a metal plate that was screwed into my bone about 3 inches above my metal wrist.

"I had heard you injured your arm, but I had no idea it was like this." She remarked, shaking her head to stop herself from staring at my hand.

"Yeah, the bones were shattered and my nerves severed in several places." I explained. "Thanks to the inheritance and the money we won in the court case against Cord motors after my airbag didn't blow, I was able to afford the best prosthetic money could buy, with money still left over that I'm set to inherit on my birthday in October." She nodded her head in understanding.

"How does it feel?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Well that's not exactly easy to explain, its wired into my nervous system so I can move it freely and have some sort of feeling, mainly just in my fingertips, I'm still having trouble reading on feeling in the rest of my hand, it feels very different from my other hand, but I've learned to live with it."

She got up from her desk and walked over to me, now that she was so close to me I could see tears welling up in her eyes. In that moment, she threw her arms around me and told me how sorry she was for me and Vixen. "You two are still babies, it must be so hard on you two." I could hear her choke back a sob, when I hear the doorknob turn.

Millie let go of me and I turned around to see who it was. An arctic fox wearing an outfit similar to Jack's walked into the room holding a small pile of papers and looking through them. When she noticed me in front of her she almost jumped from the surprise of seeing someone in the office besides Millie, she didn't get many visitors.

"Oh, hello there," she said in a sweet voice with a smile on her face. She seemed to be around the same age as me, had golden eyes that almost appeared white and two rosy pink circles on her cheeks, as if she were blushing. The very sight of her took my breath away. "I'm sorry if this is a bad time, I can come back in a few minutes."

Had I just asked politely if she could do just that, hell, if I had been a complete jerk to her and mentioned how she was interrupting an important conversation then things would be different, lives would be different, _she might still be around_ , but I was naïve at the time, I had no idea what chain of events this girl would set in motion. "No, it's alright, I can wait. What you're doing seems more important."

"Thank you-" She paused for a second, "I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."

"Vulpen," I extended my hand, "Vulpen Vulpes." She took my hand and gave it a firm shake.

"My name is Amanda," She said warmly. "Amanda Rivers."

I leaned against the wall as they discussed their business matters. As I leaned there, I couldn't help but stare at that girl; there was just something about her that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

She quickly wrapped up her business with Millie and went on her merry way, much to my dismay. I walked back over to Millie's desk and she asked me, "So what made you stop by? I doubt it was just to say hello." She had a look of deep thought for a moment before popping up, "You must be here for Bella! I assumed you still had her number but I'd be happy to call her for you if you'd like." She stood up and went to take out her phone, but I gestured to her that it was not necessary. I had a complicated history with her daughter, Bella and I didn't feel that this would have been the best time to sort things out with her. "I suppose you're right, she was pretty mad at you but you can't be held responsible, you were going through a tough time." Millie was very sweet, but oblivious to the inner working of the teenage mind, but then again, that's what every teenager thinks of adults.

After she calmed back down, and sat down behind her desk, I reached around took something out of the back pocket of my jeans and showed it to Millie. It was a white envelope with my name, and my sisters name written on it in my mother's handwriting.

"What's this?" asked Millie, obviously recognizing the handwriting. She put her hand out in a way that asked if she could have it, so I held it out and placed it down in her hand.

I put my hand back down at my side and said to her, "Last week I finally built up the strength to go into my parents' room, and me and Vix cleaned it out together." I took a seat in the chair that was next to me, so that way I could comfortably be at eye level with her. "While we were doing so, I found an old wooden chest with some weird occult looking stuff inside, and on top of everything was this letter."

I gestured for her to hand the envelope back and she quickly did. Once it was in my hand, I opened it up and took out the piece of white printer paper inside. Written on it was a note, the handwriting was unmistakably my mothers.

"My Dearest Children," I read out loud to Millie, "if you have found this letter in your position, then I'm afraid something has thrust us apart earlier than hoped, and your father and I aren't there to help you through this next chapter of your life. There are things your father and I never told you about our lives, and it's something to delicate to speak about in a letter, should it fall into the wrong hands, but there is someone who can tell you everything. Our dearest friend, Millie is just that person and you should ask her what you must me told. You must hurry, for if we are gone, you can only last so long without knowledge of what's to come." There was then a small portion written in my fathers, thick, more rough handwriting, "Vulpen, what you learn from here on out is of grave importance, and lives could very well depend on it, stay strong my son, and protect you sister." At the bottom of the letter was the signatures of both my parents.

"What were they talking about Millie?" I asked in a bit of a demanding voice, "What was so complicated that you could tell me but they couldn't put it in a secret letter?" I was almost yelling at this point, and tears were beginning to spill down through my fur.

Her face wasn't one I could read at the time, but looking back now, I can tell you exactly the look in her eyes: confusion, surprise, and most prominent of all, fear.

"I can't tell you, Vulpen, your parents made me promise." She said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper. I could see that she was on the verge of tears as well.

 _I softened my tone and went on, "What do you mean, they made you promise_?" I asked in confusion. "This letter tells me to ask you, their signatures are right at the bottom!" I slapped the paper down on her cluttered desk, making a point to use my left hand, and she flinched.

She looked up at me, tears now streaming down her face as well, "When you and your sister were born, your parents and I decided that we would not drag you into our problems until you were of age." Seeing the obvious confusion on my face, she further elaborated. "When you turn 18, I will tell you everything you need to know, but for now, please just accept that you must wait 4 more months and enjoy the time you have left; after I tell you, nothing will be the same." Before I could retort she stood up with a stern look on her face and wiped away her tears. "Please leave, I have business I need to attend to, and I have to get to a meeting." She ushered me out the door and shut it fast.

I stood outside the door, more questions formed than answered. 'What did she mean?' 'Why did I have to wait until I was 18?' I should have just heeded her warning, and I almost did, for some time I ignored the secrets of my parents' lives, but that time was short lived.

I walked back out into the games and food area and ordered a slice of pizza. I was shocked to see that the one who brought my slice, was none other than Amanda Rivers, but I was too wrapped up in my own head to notice until she greeted me. When I looked up at her, I got lost in those golden eyes and rosy cheeks that I just sat there staring like an idiot until she spoke up.

"Hey, you're the guy from Millie's office," she said happily, "Vulcan, right?"

When I noticed her, I returned the same warm smile she was giving me, "Actually, it's Vulpen, but it's no worries, not exactly the most common name."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly said as she placed my pizza down on the table. "Have a good meal, I've gotta get back to work." She turned around and went to walk away, but I built up the courage to call out to her, "H-hey," I stammered out, "I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner with me tonight?" and put on the closest thing to a "smooth" smile I could, which wasn't exactly charming when I was nervous.

She just stood there with a look of astonishment on her face before scurrying back to the kitchen without a word. I just sat at my table speechless and cursed myself for being an idiot. A few moments later Jack walked up and held out a folded-up piece of paper.

"Uh hey, Vulpen." He said in a confused tone. "Amanda told me to give this note to you, you know, because were in the second grade again." He laid the paper on the table, and walked off before I had a chance to thank him.

I looked around to see if I could spot her, but to no avail so I did the logical thing and opened the note. Written on that back of what seemed to be my receipt, was only a few words. "My shift ends at 6:30 tonight, don't keep me waiting " All I could do at the time was just stare at the note with a dumb look on my face. In all honesty, I hadn't had a girlfriend since I lost my parents so I was a little rusty.

I was careful to not show any emotion as I finished up my pizza, threw out the paper plate and walked out of the building. I had originally planned to play some of the arcade games, but I had a date to get ready for. I pulled out my phone to check the time and saw that it was 4, so I had time to bike home and wouldn't have to have Vix come and get me.

As I pulled away on my bike, I threw my hands into the air, and yelled a long and stretched out, "Yeah!" but I quickly noticed that it brought a lot of attention to me so I quickly just sped up and rode out home as quick as I could without sprinting, which took me about a half hour. I would never have called myself the athletic type back then, but I still loved to get out and enjoy nature. I probably would've done a lot more but I didn't have the best endurance back then. When I pulled up at the house, I just dropped my bike on the lawn, and ran up to the front door. As I fished for my key in my wallet, Vix opened the door.

A fox like me but with a few differences; I said we were twins, not identical. Her fur was midnight purple, almost black, except for a silver patch on her chest, and a yellow, star shaped mark over her right eye. I had a patch similar to hers on my chest, but nowhere near as big. While hers took up her whole chest and part of her naval, mine was only about the size of a soccer ball, right between my pectorals, as well as the fact that mine was a rusty red color. Even though we weren't identical, we were the exact same height.

She had an annoyed look on her face that told me I was already in trouble. "Really, Vulpen?" She said in a tone that matched her glare. When she saw that I was confused, she continued. "You went out for lunch without me?"

I returned the glare she so generously gave me and said, "I wasn't just getting food you know."

"Well then where did you go?"

"I went to visit Millie."

A look of realization dawned on her face. "The letter, right?" She said quizzically.

"Yeah, but Millie said she couldn't tell us until we turned 18, something about savoring the time we still have, or something like that." I pushed past her and walked into the welcome room, octagonal with a rectangular rug leading from the door to the hallway. "I think we should listen to her, she seemed really shaken up after I read the note."

"I don't know, our birthday is 4 months away and there were some creepy things in that chest." She went on.

"Wait," I said annoyed, "did you go through that thing? I told you we should wait until we got some answers."

"Of course I went through it, Mom and Dad always told us everything, but not this, I just _had_ to know what was in there." She had always been contempt with the info our parents shared with us because it seemed that they always told us the truth, even from a young age our parents trusted us to learn things other children wouldn't even hear whispers of until years later, but we'd soon find out that was not the case.

"Dammit, Vixen," I yelled! "You need to listen to me more often, we don't know what was in that chest, I just hope you didn't do anything stupid. Maybe there's a reason Mom and Dad made me the heir to the company."

I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. Who the company would go to was always a sore spot for my sister, since she believed she deserved to become the CEO, but our father had other plans. Now it was I who was supposed to inherit the company when I turned 21, but I doubt that will happen now.

She slapped me in the face and ran out of the room; I could hear her ascend the stairs and slam her bedroom door. I let out a sigh, cursed myself and walked off to the bathroom. I needed to shower before I went out.


	2. The Call

"Boy, I clean up nice," I said out loud to myself while looking in the mirror on the wall of my bedroom.

My room was a roomy little place. A large rectangular room with a wide closet on one end, with windows for doors that faced towards the backyard, and right between them was a queen size bed with purple satin sheets. There was a TV on the dresser on the opposite side of my room as the bed, but I hardly ever even turned It on.

I did a little twirl in the mirror, showing off my black jeans and black cotton shirt, with 3 buttons at the top, all of which were fastened. I suppose Vix must have heard me because I heard her laughing on the other side of the door and noticed that the door was open a few inches.

"I'm sorry for what I said before, you know how I get when I'm angry." I said loudly so she could hear me.

She opened the door and walked in, "I know." She said simply. "I've lived on the other side of this wall, "gesturing to the wall behind me bed, "all my life. I know how you get when you're in one of your moods." She gestured to my fancy outfit, "It's about time you got back out there. So, who's the lucky guy?"

"Ha ha, very funny," I mocked. "Her name is Amanda, and I met her today at Freddy's. I'm taking her over to Ground Round."

She giggled at me and said, "You are _way_ over dressed for that place, but I suppose they say _dress to impress_ for a reason, right?" she reached forward and undid my top button. "Unless the occasion is so formal you need a tie, never fasten the top button, it makes you look stuck up." She was always a good help with fashion.

"I don't know how I'm gonna live without you once you head down to Florida," Once fall came, Vixen was supposed to go Full Sail University, in Florida to study a career in game design. "You've always got my back and I've got yours, that's how we've always been."

"I know, Pup," Pup was the nickname she gave me when we were 11 and she started growing before me, I'd burn entire worlds to hear that name again, "it's gonna be hard for both of us, but we will survive. And before you say it, I'm not taking a job with the company. We both know I wanted to be the one to inherit it, but I'm not letting you just give me a job, besides, I want to make my own way in the world."

I looked at my watch and saw that it was already 5:30. "I've gotta get going, she gets off work in a half hour and I want to be there early." Just before I turned away, she grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me into a hug.

"I love you, Vulpen." She said softly. "Also, I'm gonna need a ride over to my friend's house."

"Ugh fine, I don't have time to argue." I begrudgingly told her.

We both ran out the door, despite the sun still being pretty high in the summer sky, clouds had invaded the air and caused the air to turn thick with moisture. One only had to take a deep breath of the outdoor air to tell that a thunderstorm was not far off. The news hadn't said anything about an incoming storm, so I was wary.

As we climbed into my car, a black, old fashioned American made muscle car, the first few drops of rain began to splatter against the rain drop, speeding up to a constant drizzle by the time I started the car.

"So where am I bringing you?" I asked her as I put the car into gear and pulled out into the road.

"Fang's." She said shyly.

The sky lit up in a brilliant display of blinding white light, and out of habit, I counted the seconds in between the flash and the boom, to find out how far away it was. When the thunder struck us, there was something off about it. The storm had only just started, but already the blast was loud enough to leave my ears ringing, and powerful enough to feel like it had shaken the car. It sounded off too, almost like a roar.

"Two miles," I said softly. "That's really close for the first strike." I had forgotten for a moment what we had been discussing, before it came back to me.

"Wait, Fang? The wolf?" I asked, and to my dismay, she nodded. "You know I hate you being around him, he is no good for you and you're gonna wind up getting hurt if you keep spending time with him. Not only does he live in a horrible part of town, but hes been arrested multiple times for drug and assault charges."

"Did you research my boyfriend?" She said in an angered tone, before realizing what she said and bit her tongue.

As we pulled onto Montauk Highway, I confirmed her suspicions.

"Your boyfriend?" She had only ever called him a friend. "And yes, I did. I never trusted him, so I hired a PI to see just who you were hanging out with. He has gang affiliations, and I forbid you from-"

The air felt charged, and tasted like metal. Fur all over my body, and I knew exactly what that meant.

"You forbid me from wha-" She began before I slammed my arm across her chest.

"Hold on!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

It all happened within a second, the accident that changed everything. I was sure the next bolt was coming straight for our car, but I was wrong; it arced straight down onto a convertible, soft top sports car. The world seemed to slow down, and I saw everything that went down. The second the bolt hit; that bolt, it was like no lightning strike id ever seen, rather than stark white, blue or purple, the electricity was a brilliant yellow, like the color of the sun, but that was only on the outsides. The core of the bolt was a bloody red color that triggered something inside of me. The struck cars wheels jerked towards the side, straight towards us; it was only 50 feet away, I didn't have a chance to avoid the hit, so I just braced.

Just before the crash, I heard a scream, the world went black and everything got hot, hotter, burning.

Cold.

 **Thank you for being so patient. This remake of** _ **The Story of Vulpen and Mangle**_ **is just a pet project of mine, and I don't intend to commit to it full time. Each chapter could take weeks to be released at a time, but I will do what I can to keep my writing spirit. Any of you who have read the original source material know that this story is diverging very much from what the originals plot. Please message me if you wish to discuss the future of the project, I could always use some pointers on some minor plot points you could come up with.**


	3. The Fire

"Vulpen dear, you have to wake up." I heard a familiar voice say, however when I looked up, all I saw was smoke, and darkness, somehow though, despite the lack of light I could still see myself and the smoke. "It's me, my little pup." I knew that voice

That voice belonged to my mother.

I tried to reach out and grab hold of her, sure that she was just beyond the wispy cloud before me, I almost sobbed when my hand sailed straight through.

Once again, she spoke to me, "There's no time, we wanted you and your sister to stay out of our lives, but we were foolish, and played with forces beyond our control when we were young."

"Mom, what are you talking about," I pleaded, tears welling in my eyes.

"We don't have time, they're coming," her voice grew worried, and despite not being able to see her, I had the feeling she was looking around her, "Find Millie, she'll explain everything; we didn't want you to know about all this yet, but _it_ is awakening."

Tears began to fall from my muzzle, "I already asked Millie, she said she couldn't tell me."

"Tell her that the scarlet moon is rising, she'll know what it means." She said, a sense of urgency crept through, "I'm sorry, I have to leave you again, they're here."

With that, the voice faded away, as well as the smoke; I just sat there in the darkness, sobbing and calling out for my mother.

Another voice popped up, this one foreign, unknown to me, and just barely loud enough for me to hear, "Vulpen, it's time to get up," the voice said, "Are you feeling ok?" The voice was growing louder, and repeating what it had said; just then, a blinding light appeared in the dark.

I jerked upright in what seemed to be a bed, my fur around my eyes wet with tears. After a moment, my vision cleared and I saw I was in a hospital room, the curtains were shut so I didn't know what time it was; to the right of me stood a nurse-a cow, they're known for their proficiencies in caring for others-and Vixen was asleep in a chair to my left.

"Where am I?" I tried to ask, but I was shocked when the voice that spoke wasn't my own, but much more coarse and dry. My words more accurately sounded like, "wer *cough* i?"

Instantly the adrenaline rush that fueled my burst upward faded away, and fatigue took control of my muscles, I would have fallen straight back into the bed, but the nurse caught me and helped lay me down softly. It took some careful focus but she carefully positioned some pillows so I could sit up comfortably.

"Careful sweetie," her voice was very soothing, and she held a glass of water up to my lips which I drank, though my throat stung like there was fire within. "My name is Mirabelle, You're in Stony Brook Hospital, your sister requested that you were moved here after they admitted you to Brookhaven Hospital." I made a mental note to thank her for that one; we didn't have the best history with Brookhaven Hospital.

I managed to choke out a scratchy, "What happened?" My muscles felt weak and sore.

"You were in a car accident," she explained, "a head-on collision at full speed no less, you're lucky to be alive, but your sister suffered minimal injuries, despite your car bursting into flames. Lightning struck the other car and caused the steering column to lock up." I could have cared less about the car, all I wanted was to know how Vixen was.

She saw my eyes turn to my sleeping sister, "She's just fine sweetie, you managed to protect her when you grabbed hold of her." That confused me, all I remember was putting my arm in front of her chest, and how wasn't my arm broken, or all of me for that matter.

In that moment, I thought about what she said, I had time to be moved from one hospital to another, how long had I been out? "Time," I struggled to say, and took another sip of water.

She looked over at a clock on the wall, and read it out loud to me, "6:45pm."

That wasn't a good enough answer, "Day," I asked desperately.

"Monday, June 20th," she replied in a calming tone.

Ten days. I was in a coma for 10 days. I lifted my left arm to tap Vixen until woke up, but my prosthetic wasn't there, even more, the fixture that the prosthetic attached to was warped and bubbled, like it had been melted, and even more, there were missing patched of fur where you could tell it had been burnt off.

"We had to surgically remove your prosthesis from your arm," she clarified, "when your car burned, it somehow melted the metal and plastic, without burning you or your sister. We're not exactly sure how that is possible, but it is." I myself was wondering how it could be possible at that time. "Vixen sweetie, it's time to wake up." Mirabelle reached across me and tapped Vix on her forehead.

It only took a few seconds before she began to stir and realized that I was sitting up; she threw her hands around me and started sobbing, she went one rambling about how she was so scared that she wouldn't ever see me awake again. When her hands wrapped around my back, I felt a jolt of pain that felt like electricity arcing across my back, causing my muscles to tense up very rapidly. She quickly noticed my discomfort and let go, apologizing.

"What's wrong with my back?" I asked, my voice finally beginning to return to me.

"You should take a look at these, sweetie," Mirabelle reached under my bed and pulled out a small stack of papers, bound with a staple, and started flipping through them for me to see; they were pictures.

One showed my car, barely recognizable from what it had previously been, I had no clue how we got out alive. The next showed my prosthetic hand, melted metal and plastic dripping down my arm, but somehow not burning my skin, but still managing to burn away my fur. The final picture was the most confusing, and the most shocking of the three: in it, I was lain out on my stomach, with only my upper body shown, making a clear focus on my upper back, which everything seemed fine, except for two, straight, identical, foot long gashes clearly shown through singed patches of fur, that went down from my shoulder blades.

"What caused these?" I said, not understanding how I could get two identical slash marks on my back in an accident where there were no other injuries.

Mirabelle just looked around the room nervously, "We're not actually sure," when she saw how confused I was, she elaborated, "these slashes aren't like anything we've encountered before. The on-scene paramedics described them as appearing as though something had been pushed out of your back, however when you arrived at the hospital they looked more like razor slashes, and when we X-rayed you, there was no damage observable besides the wounds, and," she hesitated for a moment. "The other thing." I was too concerned with my back to notice that remark though.

"How bad are they?" I asked, her story perplexing me.

A soft smile spread across her face, "Actually you've been healing quite fast; they've shrunken down to about four inches each, although there is still some notably missing fur.

That was when I noticed it. I was lying on my back, a position that should have been severely uncomfortable for me, and my bed didn't seem to be one with a slot cut out. It would be especially uncomfortable for someone who has just woken from a comatose state, and she had mentioned another injury.

"Where is it?" I asked, my voice cold and full of fear. Neither of them could meet my gaze.

I struggled to push myself up out of bed, my muscles screaming in protest, and the two women trying to push me back into the cot. I started walking unsteadily towards the door.

"Go with him, he'll need you." I had heard Mirabelle say behind me.

Suddenly Vixen had my right arm over her shoulder and was helping me into the hallway. People looked at us but no one looked like they were going to try and stop us. A small otter girl pointed at me and started whispering to her mother. She steered me towards a restroom. When we walked through the wooden door that was marked, "Family," she spun me around to look at her.

"Listen Vulpen, you're not going to like what you see, but you have to know, we love you anyway."

Slowly she turned me so my side was facing the mirror. I looked, and on my back, was a missing patch of fur, and in the center, a stitched-up slash. Even worse, where there should have been a long russet tail with a white tip, was a bandaged patch that covered a 3-inch area above my behind.

I was horrified, and terrified and enraged all in the same moment. My tail, my beautiful tail was gone, just like my hand, never to be seen again.

I spoke only one word, "How?" I had to choke back a sob.

"The crash, it mangled your tail, every bone was shattered and the last 16 inches were ripped off. The doctors were forced to amputate." She saw my hands ball into fists, and my teeth start to grind together, so she hugged me tightly.

I pushed her off of me, causing her to fall to the ground in shock; the pain in my muscles subsiding, or maybe I didn't care about the pain anymore, I'm not sure. I knew this floor, my grandfather had been in here for some time, it was the intensive care unit. Everything around me seemed to slow down as I ran out of the bathroom and towards the nearest elevator, I managed to get the doors shut before anyone could stop me. When the doors shut, I started to sob.

I lost another one, another body part. I hoped it would never happen again. I heard the elevator ding and I was out the doors before they were fully open. I sprinted through the lobby and for some reason, security didn't even try to slow me down. I was 30 feet outside the door before I noticed that it was raining, another thunder storm.

I collapsed to my knees, steam rising from my fur, and looked to the storming evening sky, ignoring the water pouring down on my eyes. I could hardly distinguish the tears pouring down my face from the falling rain. I screamed to the sky, demanding answers: Why did it have to be me? Why was I the one forced to go through so many losses in my life? First, the loss of both of my grandparents in the same year to different illnesses when I was 10, then my mistake causing the loss of both my mother and father, along with left hand, and now I've lost my tail. Why was the world so cruel to me, what did I do to deserve this? The pain returned to my body but I didn't care.

I slammed my fist into the ground in rage, not noticing the cloud of steam that was forming in the air. I stood back up, clenched my eyes tight, balled my hand into a fist, and screamed at the sky; no words, just a primal scream that seemed to come from instincts buried long ago; untapped power, that I had never felt before. I couldn't hear the scream, all I could hear was the blood rushing in my head. Power coursed through my veins, seemingly igniting every nerve ending in my body in fiery agony, but I didn't care. In that moment, my rage, and my pain made me feel invincible, like I could take on the world; no, I wanted to take it on. I wanted to rise in that moment and exact vengeance on the cruel world for making me endure so much pain in my life. I caught my breath and let out another scream. White hot flames seemed to lick across my back, before leaving it feeling soothed. My scream turned to a deep roar, that seemed to shake my body to its core. Lightning stuck nearby, the blinding flash shining through my clenched eyes, and the thunder only seemed to make me roar louder, which I didn't think possible. Despite the rain, my skin was hot, burning even; it felt like my body was trying to split in two; a piece from deep within trying to separate itself from me, like we didn't belong together. I opened my eyes to see my sister standing in the door of the hospital, surrounded by nurses and security guards. For a moment, her standing there enraged me even more, reminding me of all the failures I had endured, and I had put us through. Phantom pains of fire and ice spread out where my tail had once been, starting at the base and moving out towards the tip. Once more, my back lit on fire, something was trying to rip free, but just then, seeing her safe reminded me that I had saved the most important thing: my sister's life.

I stopped screaming and looked down at myself. A cloud of steam swirled around me.

I noticed something off about myself. "I'm," I started to feel fatigued and my vision started going dark, "Dry."

My fist fell to my side, and for what seemed like an eternity, everyone standing in the doorway, and I just stared at each other. A crowd had formed inside the lobby, and they were all looking at me. My vision went black and I could feel myself falling sideways

 **Once again, I would say that the wait has been worth it, I spent a long time perfecting how I wanted this chapter to go. Let me know what y'all think.**


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